Getty De'Aaron Fox
De’Aaron Fox is married to Recee Caldwell Fox and the couple has one son together, named Reign. Caldwell is a talented athlete and played high school and collegiate basketball, but switched to working in the front office after narrowly missing out on the WNBA.
Here’s what you need to know about De’Aaron Fox’s wife Recee Caldwell Fox:
1. Recee Caldwell Grew Up Playing Basketball & Was a Star Player Throughout College
Recee Fox was born Recee Caldwell on September 9, 1996, to Ray and Alba Caldwell, and grew up with a passion for basketball. Her father, basketball coach Ray Caldwell, took his daughter to a Los Angeles Sparks game when she was a child and she began dreaming of making it to the WNBA.
She grew up in San Antonio and attended Lady Bird Johnson High School and stopped playing high school basketball in her junior year to be homeschooled, Andscape reported. She said she continued conditioning with swimming and yoga to minimize the stress on her body and studied film. She also played basketball for her dad’s AAU team San Antonio’s Finest.
Caldwell said she received a lot of criticism for deciding to stop playing high school ball but decided to just stick with her plan. “I was never really nervous about it. I know I took a lot of flak for it, but in the long run it was a blessing,” she shared. She made the USA Basketball U-16 and U-18 national teams, winning gold twice at the FIBA World Championships. Caldwell also played in the McDonald’s All-American game in 2014, her UCLA profile states.
She played at UCLA for her freshman year, where her profile states that she was majoring in business economics with a minor in communications. After her freshman year, she transferred to Texas Tech as her father took a coaching job at the college and played two successful seasons despite getting a season-ending injury in her second season, her profile states. She graduated with a business degree.
Her father then left Texas Tech and Caldwell transferred to the University of California, Berkeley as a graduate student to study for a master’s degree in public health. She wasn’t drafted by the WNBA but attended a training camp with the Seattle Storm and was later waived, Andscape reported.
She shared that she played well in an exhibition game despite picking up a wrist fracture thanks to a freak injury two weeks before the training camp. “I go to the emergency room,” she recalled. “They’re like, ‘You broke your wrist. We need to put you in a cast.’ I said, ‘I can’t do a cast. I cannot. I have training camp in two weeks. We just need to tape the s*** up. I need to continue training.’”
2. Recee Caldwell Worked in Player Development for the Washington Wizards & the Golden State Warriors
Caldwell has worked in the front office for both the Washington Wizards and the Golden State Warriors. She worked as a player development intern with the Wizards for the 2018 NBA draft and in the 2018 NBA Summer League. While at Berkeley for her master’s degree, she interned with the Warriors and was an impressive member of the team.
“She fit right in,” then-Warriors star DeMarcus Cousins told the San Francisco Chronicle. “It can be awkward for a young female to come into this environment, but she fit in like a true champion. She’s so professional, so loved and such a hard worker. She’s an incredible human being. We love having her around.”
Head coach Steve Kerr also had nothing but praise for Caldwell and said she was very “proactive.” He told the Chronicle, “She’s attacking everything, with a wonderful smile and spirit and vigor. She’s going places.”
Caldwell said it was exhausting playing for Cal while studying for her master’s and also interning for the Warriors but it just proved to her that she truly loved the sport. “Your love for the game can really be tested when you’re sitting there, sleep deprived, cutting together game after game after game,” she shared. “Yeah, I get tired, but I never lose sight of why I’m doing this.”
3. Recee Caldwell & De’Aaron Fox Met During the 2018 NBA Summer League & Had an Eventful First Date
Caldwell and Fox met in Las Vegas during the 2018 NBA Summer League when Caldwell was interning with the Wizards. She recalled that she was in front of a hotel by the valet stand waiting to say hi to a friend, she told Andscape. Fox walked by and the two of them eyed each other but said nothing.
“’De’ walked by, and growing up in Texas, usually hoopers know each other,” she shared. “But I’m two classes above him. Obviously, I’ve watched De’Aaron for a long time… I figured he knew me. He didn’t know me, so he just walks by me.” As for Fox, he told the publication he “didn’t know the girls two classes up.” Caldwell didn’t wait for Fox to make a move and instead sent him a DM on Instagram calling out her fellow Texas native for not saying anything.
“So apparently, I walked past her at the hotel, and I didn’t remember,” he shared. “I didn’t notice. And I’m in the room. I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? I don’t even remember seeing a girl.'” The two of them met up later and ended up talking for hours, and the talking continued via FaceTime when she returned to Berkeley. Fox said the two found it easy to talk to each other.
Their first date was a memorable one that ended with the Kings star getting a black eye. The couple went to the planetarium and a steakhouse, Caldwell recounted to NBC Sports’ “Kings Central.” Afterward, the two basketball stars decided to play one-on-one.
“So I had the ball first,” Caldwell recalled. “De’Aaron is, like I said, a sore loser, competitor, whatever it is. He starts playing real professional defense. Like the one that you see him play against Davion [Mitchell] or whatever guard… So I did what I was taught to do, and like you create space, and you swim over. Well, his face was right there and I clipped his eye.” She said she thought he’d never call her after that first date.
4. De’Aaron Fox Proposed to Recee Caldwell in September 2020 & They Tied the Knot in August 2022
Fox proposed to Caldwell on September 10, 2020, at the beach. He posted photos of the proposal, which featured a huge “Marry Me” sign along with red roses. “She the one who chose me, that’s what’s more important. Forever,” he captioned the photos.
They got married in August 2022, but Caldwell spilled that she’d actually torn her Achilles tendon playing 1-on-1 four weeks before her big day. She got surgery on the tendon and then tried to work out before the wedding as best she could to be able to fit into her wedding dress. “Yeah, it was terrible. I was kind of hobbling down wedding night. My foot was huge,” she told Andscape.
The couple is very close and coming from a basketball background herself, Caldwell said she’s very conscious of their conversations after games. She told the publication that after Fox’s bad games, she’ll ask him if he’s healthy and happy. “Obviously, he’s not going to be happy that he lost, but De’Aaron as a human being first is what I care about,” she said. She pointed out that his basketball career will be over after a certain time but their relationship is forever.
As for Fox, he said he trusts his wife’s approach, especially in light of her background in NBA player development.
In fact, Caldwell got some praise from Kings coach Mike Brown when he was speaking to reporters in April 2023. The head coach was asked about Fox’s growth and maturity given his family responsibilities off the court and Brown replied, “If you choose the partner that he did in Recee, then that’s really gonna elevate him because if you think Foxy is competitive, ooh. Recee could throw on a Kings uniform right now, she might beat him out for that award.”
5. De’Aaron Fox & Recee Caldwell Welcomed Their First Child Together, a Son Named Reign, in February 2023
Fox and Caldwell welcomed their first child together, Reign, on February 3, 2023. The Kings star posted a couple of pictures of his newborn son a few days later and captioned them, “2/3/23 The most fire birthday ever. My Reign is here.”
Fox previously said they’d picked the name Reign a long time before their son’s birth and told the Sacramento Bee that it was Caldwell’s pick. “It’s just kind of a name we liked, and Reign kind of means reign, as in Kings, so there’s a little meaning to it. She actually picked the name,” he shared.
Brown said everyone was “extremely happy” for Fox and that his excitement and pride were palpable. “They’re going to be terrific, terrific, terrific parents,” the Kings coach shared. “Reign’s a lucky little fella to have them as parents. We’re excited to welcome Foxy and Recee’s little son to our family.”